The Central excise collections in Orissa zone declined by 6.5 percent by the end of February 2009, compared to the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.
The total collections of Central excise during the first eleven months of the current fiscal was Rs 1999.04 crore as against Rs 2137.86 crore in the same period last fiscal. The total collections were Rs 2445.05 crore in 2007-08.
The main commodities on which Central excise is levied in the state are iron and steel, cement, ceramic products (refractory brick) and aluminium.
Major assessees include Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), OCL, Hindalco, ACC Baragarh Cement, Tata Refractories, Tata Sponge Iron, Kalinga Iron Works, Sree Metalliks and Ultratech Cement Ltd. However, the collections of Bhubaneswar-II commissionerate, which covers districts like Sundergarh, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Sonepur, Boudh, Baragarh, Bolangir and Nuapada, was better.
Sources said, the Central excise collections of the commissionerate increased by 3.21 percent to reach Rs 1543.91 crore by the end of February compared to Rs 1495.88 crore in the corresponding period of 2007-08.
On the otherhand, the service tax collections in the zone increased by 23 percent to Rs 661.54 crore by the end of February this year, compared to Rs 537.62 crore during the same period in the previous fiscal.
About 32.52 percent growth in the collections of service tax in Bhubaneswar-II commissionerate has helped the collection growth, sources added.
The major services on which service tax is levied in the state are transport of goods by road, mining, consulting engineer, business auxilary, cargo handling, construction, telephone, banking and other site preparation clearance and excavation and manpower recruitment agencies.
The zone recorded 0.56 percent decline in aggregate collection of the Central excise and service tax, during the first 11 months of 2008-09.The collections declined by Rs 14.9 crore from Rs 2675.48 crore to Rs 2660.58 crore during this period. It may be noted, the total collections of Central excise and service tax during 2007-08 was at Rs 3137.8 crore.